Michael Kennedy spoke with Gayety about his latest film, “It’s a Wonderful Knife,” a slasher holiday film with a killer twist.
Kennedy opens up about the support he received from straight team members urging him to “make it more gay.” Plus, Jess McLeod and Jane Widdop amplified authenticity by infusing personal experiences into their characters.
Kennedy opens up about the support he received from straight team members urging him to “make it more gay.” Plus, Jess McLeod and Jane Widdop amplified authenticity by infusing personal experiences into their characters.
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00:00 Congratulations to you both.
00:01 I really, really enjoyed the film.
00:03 How are you feeling being here, being able to speak about it today?
00:07 Feeling good, you know, like it's always nice to get to this point,
00:11 you know, where you've seen it with a couple of audiences.
00:15 You know, we did a bit of a kind of minor film festival tour kind of
00:20 leading up to Halloween and, you know, it's the release is right
00:22 around the corner.
00:22 So, you know, it's been good to, you know, start seeing it get out
00:26 to the world.
00:26 Yeah, great.
00:27 It's a little scary.
00:29 I mean, it's a horror.
00:30 It should be a little scary.
00:31 A little holiday warmth, you know.
00:35 This part of the process makes me feel like I'm going to throw up a
00:39 little bit, but it's okay.
00:40 Is there going to be any opportunity to see the movie with audiences
00:44 this coming around?
00:45 Yeah, we're doing a thing on the 10th at the draft house.
00:49 We're doing a Tyler and I are doing a Q&A that night and tomorrow
00:53 we're showing the movie to the film program at USC, which should be
00:59 fun.
00:59 And then, yeah, see what happens.
01:02 It'll be out for audiences to enjoy.
01:05 I'm really excited to see how people react.
01:08 I truly didn't know what to expect going in and was just pleasantly
01:11 surprised by everything.
01:13 So I'd love to get into some of those details about it.
01:16 I mean, the concept and what inspired you to create It's a Wonderful
01:21 Life.
01:21 Can you just talk about that a bit?
01:22 Yeah, you know, I've always wanted to make a Christmas slasher.
01:26 I love Christmas movies.
01:28 I love horror movies and I love Christmas horror movies.
01:30 Black Christmas is like one of my favorite movies of all time, not
01:34 just horror movies, but in general.
01:36 And then I always wanted to do that.
01:39 And then I just I had so much fun making Freaky and kind of doing
01:44 a mashup there that when I sat down to kind of think of ideas for
01:47 a Christmas horror movie, I just said, let's do another mashup.
01:52 And immediately thought of It's a Wonderful Life.
01:54 Holiday favorite in my household growing up, my dad's favorite movie.
01:58 He passed away five years ago.
02:01 So I also had a little bit of an emotional connection to the process
02:05 of like to the idea of being like, oh, this could be something to
02:09 connect with my dad even in a weird way.
02:11 So yeah, that's kind of the genesis of the whole thing.
02:14 I have been noticing that there's it's been kind of this thing going
02:18 around where we take a classic and just I mean, I've seen a couple
02:21 and they're always so fun to experience.
02:24 Why do you think audiences are really drawn to seeing like these,
02:27 you know, classic films, but then adding a pillar to it?
02:30 Well, first of all, it's just super fun.
02:32 It's, you know, but I think the biggest thing is like it's there's
02:36 a familiarity to it, right?
02:38 So like there's an extra layer that you don't get in other movies
02:42 because you're kind of taking another movie that already exists
02:46 and doing some stuff with it.
02:47 So there's a familiarity already for the audience.
02:49 So they're kind of in on the joke from the get-go and they're also
02:53 kind of in the know to the thing I love about these movies is if
02:55 you've never seen Preaky Friday or Back to the Future with like
03:00 Totally Killer or It's a Wonderful Life, you understand what's
03:03 going on.
03:04 But if you have you kind of get like an extra.
03:06 Like you get an extra like you get your like inside the joke a
03:10 little bit like, you know, so and I think that's super fun for
03:13 audiences to kind of have the extra layer when they're watching
03:19 the movie and they're just fun.
03:20 They're a fun riff on the familiar tropes of genre.
03:24 So yeah, I think people just have a lot of fun with them.
03:26 And even like it's a even It's a Wonderful Life is a bit of a riff
03:31 on like a Christmas Carol.
03:32 And so like, you know, back then, you know, like so this idea of
03:37 kind of like mashing up different things and kind of unique and
03:39 fun ways is just a, you know, an interesting way of kind of like,
03:42 you know, getting people to buy into the concept and then you can
03:45 sort of take it and make it unique in other ways.
03:48 And they're easily pitched.
03:50 And you say it's a Wonderful Knife.
03:51 People know exactly what you're talking about.
03:53 I do love the play on words with the titles.
03:56 I mean, I think that's a selling point for sure.
03:58 And Tyler just going into making this kind of movie when you're
04:02 kind of pulling from different genres and different movies that
04:06 already exist.
04:07 Is there a challenge that you don't want to go too far and pull
04:09 too much information from any of these classes?
04:11 I mean, not not really.
04:13 I mean, we definitely like, I mean, when you read when I kind of
04:16 came onto the script, like it's really not like a beat for beat
04:19 remake of It's a Wonderful Life.
04:21 It was just kind of burrowed that sort of kind of magical wish
04:25 trope that's in a lot of different stories and not, you know, and
04:29 you know, maybe most prominently in It's Wonderful Life.
04:32 But like I looked at a lot of things that had kind of those sort
04:35 of scenarios where characters find themselves in like a nightmare
04:38 version of their life, you know, like we've looked at stuff like
04:41 like Mr.
04:41 Destiny, you know, which is like a weird kind of like Jim Belushi
04:44 movie where he like, you know, he sees a life that you know, was
04:48 you know, he didn't have and there's a lot of stories that are
04:53 kind of like that.
04:53 And so I tried to, you know, pull from, you know, like a couple
04:59 of other inspirations more like I love like a lot of Edgar Wright
05:03 stuff.
05:03 I think he really bought, he really balances a lot of like horror
05:06 and comedy very well.
05:07 And so we talked about that is kind of like how scary should it
05:10 be and how you know, heartfelt should it be and trying to get
05:13 that balance right and you know, but we wanted it to be a bit
05:18 of a satire of Hallmark films and things like that that are like
05:23 very wholesome, you know, like in what it you know, and a lot
05:26 of those those, you know, like bad guys are pretty unhinged and
05:29 you know, what you know, for me a lot of the jumping off point
05:31 of like the style of it was like, well, what if the Hallmark
05:33 villain just went crazy, you know, like and and so that's so
05:36 the first act of the movie really has that sort of vibe to it.
05:39 It's like a people are acting in a certain timber.
05:41 It's a bit in, you know, enhanced and and and we're kind of
05:44 you know, playing with that a little bit, but then it sort of
05:46 goes somewhere that it hasn't been before and I like that.
05:49 I a lot of movies that I'm I've made in stories.
05:52 I've gravity towards kind of have that sort of commonality
05:55 of they said you in this set of expectations that you feel
05:59 like, you know, well and then take you somewhere else.
06:00 Absolutely.
06:01 I love what you said with the Hallmark movies because you
06:03 can definitely see where you're playing on those tropes, but
06:06 just pushing the boundaries of how far we can really go with
06:09 these kind of storylines and I do just have to say that Justin
06:13 Long in this film is just so eerie like it's it's amazing
06:17 what he really brought to the character and just being aware
06:20 be so off-putting the entire time.
06:22 Yeah.
06:23 Yeah, it was really fun to kind of create that character
06:25 with him.
06:25 Like he definitely was up for like some pretty big swings.
06:28 And so he had this very specific way.
06:29 He wanted to look and then we sort of like shape that together
06:32 and and you know throughout a lot of like, you know references
06:35 about kind of like sort of these sort of scuzzy kind of older
06:38 businessmen and and he had a very specific sort of very kind
06:42 of soft touch with the voice and everything like that and
06:44 just had a lot of ideas and it was really kind of fun to
06:46 figure it all out with him and Michael.
06:47 I wanted to go to you and just talk about this.
06:50 There's a beautiful queer representation that goes on in
06:54 this film and I love whenever a horror movie brings that in
06:57 but I really love how organic this one feels.
07:00 So can you just talk a little bit about what this storyline
07:02 means to you and how it really is adding to LGBTQ characters
07:06 in horror comedy?
07:08 Yeah, I think you know, I love it too.
07:10 I'm queer myself.
07:10 So that's why it's it's a part of anything I do.
07:15 It's just you know, it's like how for straight people they
07:19 just write straight characters and I just write queer characters.
07:22 It's just part of my part of my process and you know, the
07:26 fun thing about this movie is I had queer characters from
07:33 the get-go but then the straight white males that were
07:37 involved in the movie came to me and said make more of the
07:39 characters queer.
07:40 So like I love that.
07:42 That's the first time I've ever worked in that like I've had
07:44 that happen to me as a writer like literally having people
07:48 be like make it gayer and I was like, okay, I can make it
07:51 gayer and I always felt that Winnie and Bernie's relationship
07:56 had this queer sensibility to it.
07:59 But they those two Jess and Jane they brought an even queer
08:04 sensibility to it on set that it became deeper and more became
08:10 more subtextual but also more textual throughout the movie
08:14 too that was I don't want to say happy accident.
08:17 I think it was on the page but then Jane and Jess came to
08:21 us and said can we make this explicitly queer and everyone
08:26 looked around and was kind of like yeah, like it's already
08:29 there you two are bringing more of it to the forefront.
08:33 Than we had ever imagined which is just great because it was
08:36 one of those situations where everyone just kind of looked
08:39 around and was like duh, you know, so and I really love that
08:42 it was very much a collaborative effort in that way too.
08:45 So I'm really proud of how those characters spoke to the two
08:52 actors and made them feel like they were being represented
08:57 not only represented in the movie, but then had a voice for
09:00 those characters because they felt like those characters were
09:03 them, you know, Jess and Jane are both queer themselves.
09:07 So like they wanted to bring their own lives into the roles
09:12 and they did, you know, so it just I don't know.
09:14 It's hard to put it into words because a lot of it just kind
09:17 of kept building and building and building as we made the
09:19 movie and as we were prepping the movie and stuff it just
09:22 got gayer and gayer and gayer and gayer and gayer and it was,
09:27 you know, wholly embraced by everybody from the crew and
09:32 the cast and the studio and stuff.
09:34 So it's really meaningful in that sense more than anything
09:38 that it's been wholly supported.
09:40 No pushback, nothing like no questions asked just like yes,
09:44 every time it was yes, you know, I love everything about
09:48 that. I mean just from the get-go being like bring more
09:51 gayness. Like it's a care, you know, again, it was gay in
09:53 the first draft of the script. That is exactly what everyone
09:56 wants to see and I mean, I think this movie has so much
10:00 potential. Do you think you see people like Christmas Eve
10:02 opening presents popping this on, you know, instead of putting
10:05 on Polar Express?
10:07 Yeah, I hope so.
10:08 I think that'll be I think for queer folks, especially it's
10:11 going to be a yearly watch.
10:12 I've already seen a couple Letterboxd reviews that's like
10:14 added to my yearly watch list.
10:16 Yeah, I think people like Tyler has such a great sensibility
10:21 and we working together on this we weirdly made this wholesome
10:25 little film at the same time too, like it's cozy, you know,
10:28 so I feel like it's a great even if it's a background watch
10:32 I'd be happy. Wrapping presents and putting it on great.
10:35 Yeah.
10:36 Yeah, the wallpaper in the background for all the Christmas
10:38 going on, you know, like that's a lot of freedom what a lot
10:41 of Christmas movies kind of end up being but yeah, it was
10:44 definitely fun to kind of like see people kind of really
10:49 get into it, you know, like I mean the goal as director
10:52 for me is always trying to get people to kind of invest,
10:55 you know, because like often you're just kind of coming
10:57 in and doing your own little it's such a group effort and
10:59 everyone's kind of doing their little slice.
11:00 And so I'm really excited when you know, we end up, you know,
11:03 casting people like Jane and Jess you really like we're
11:06 like, well, what can we do this best for the movie, you know,
11:08 and then like, you know, and would definitely like bring
11:11 a ton of ideas and you can really see them, you know, kind
11:14 of take ownership over it away in a way that you don't always
11:18 get out of younger actors, especially and so yeah, it was
11:22 really, really great to see.
11:23 I did want to ask just in the theme of the entire film.
11:27 Do you have any special Christmas traditions that you do
11:30 with your family?
11:31 I mean, we always watch it's a wonderful life.
11:34 We Christmas story was a big sit down.
11:38 I have seven.
11:39 There's seven kids in my family.
11:40 I'm the youngest of seven.
11:42 So when I was younger, there was definitely the nine of
11:45 us would sit down and watch a Christmas story.
11:46 I'm from Cleveland and it was shot there.
11:48 So that was like a sense of pride for my parents, especially
11:53 and then typical traditions.
11:55 But the biggest one is just tons of Irish food and music
11:59 on Christmas weirdly.
12:01 Yeah, we always play Scrabble, you know, it's not very low
12:05 key.
12:05 But yeah, it's yeah, that sounds fun.
12:08 So now it's going to be for your family Michael like a double
12:11 feature with your launch into wonderful life and then it's
12:14 a wonderful knife.
12:15 It's a wonderful life.
12:16 It's a wonderful knife and Christmas story.
12:18 Yes.
12:19 Yes, I think track suit in the movie is a call out to the
12:23 Easter Bunny and Christmas story.
12:24 Really?
12:25 Yeah.
12:26 I love that.
12:27 Yeah, so there's other movies we played with too.
12:29 So yeah, it'll be a nice yearly watch.
12:31 My family's getting ready to rent a theater in Cleveland
12:34 for the opening day too.
12:35 So maybe we'll get them on a double disc like a double
12:38 blu-ray release.
12:39 Actually like this is the kind of branding that we need.
12:43 There we go.
12:44 It's like from the shelf at Walmart, you know, that's what
12:45 we need.
12:46 And then my last question, what movie do you think needs
12:50 a horror twist next?
12:52 Because there's so I was right before this.
12:54 I was kind of feeling like I was trying to think of how
12:56 I would do Greece with a lot.
12:58 Sure.
12:59 Yeah.
12:59 Yeah.
12:59 I mean, I'm no writer.
13:01 I couldn't I didn't have the plan yet.
13:02 I can't think of a specific movie but the genre that
13:06 needs it is the rom-com.
13:07 Okay, I would be interested to see.
13:11 Yeah.
13:11 Well, thank you both so much.
13:13 Congratulations on the film and thanks for chatting with
13:16 me.
13:16 Thanks Caitlin.